Carl Stevens
We’re getting into October now and it already feels like 2018 is upon us! More and more boxes are arriving for next year’s steed, but until then I’ve been keeping myself busy in just about any way I can. And by keeping myself busy, I actually mean that somehow I managed to blag myself into getting a KTM RC390 to ride in the RC Cup; the one make series alongside the MCE British Superbike Championship. Now, I’m not going to go into too much detail as you’ll be able to read my story in full in a nice juicy feature I’m working on for a coming issue, but needless to say I had a right blast and was buzzing to be out on track. In all truth, going up against a load of nutty nippers was bloody hard work!
The racing was incredibly close and the fact that I’ve not had that much fun on a bike in years just says it all – and that was before we’d even finished practice. After four seasons of riding a big bike, it’s so difficult to grasp how to get a decent lap time on a small capacity machine – especially when you’re at a bit of a weight disadvantage. I started off pretty darn slow, but after some help from one Jeremy McWilliams I managed to pull something out the bag and came away with a couple of top 10 finishes which was a pretty cool way to finish the weekend off.
It hasn’t just been all fun and games mind you. Apart from clowning around on RC390s and creating a garage full of GSX-R1000R bling, I’ve been training at every possible moment so I can hold on to the bloody thing. These bikes are an absolute animal to handle so I want to be as on point as I can be physically. No messing around now either; you know things have got serious now that the only thing I’m drinking is gin – it has fewer calories than a banana after all…
All of this is just mere preparation for that mahoosive step ahead, though. By this time next month the Suzuki should be pretty much ready to rock and roll for a first outing, where I’m hoping to get one sneaky club race in before the end of the year.
As long as it’s not snowing by then. I don’t know what to expect from it, or how well I’ll adjust to it, but I’ll do my best and aim for the top. People keep telling me how big a step it’s going to be, but I’m in no rush to go shouting my mouth off about winning championships and the like. It’ll be one step at a time stuff but I’m like a kid at Christmas… which isn’t all that far away, come to think about it. How did that happen?